FROM THE CALM AGENT DESK

4 Lessons From Gary Keller on Steering Through the Shift

I listened to Gary Keller on Andrew Flachner’s Playmakers podcast.

Here are four key takeaways from the conversation that stood out to me, along with a link to the full episode if you'd like to hear his perspective yourself.

🎧 Listen: Gary Keller on Playmakers podcast 

1. Adapt to the Market Like a Professional

Keller forecasts a national shift to a buyer’s market within six months, due to building inventory. He notes that the industry has been on a "floor" for about three years, and a normal economic recovery cycle suggests significant change might not be seen until the summer of 2026. Many agents feel caught between what they wish the market would do and what it actually is doing. Professionals stay rooted in the reality in front of them. This is a time to audit your expenses, stabilize your personal finances, and study local market dynamics so you can guide clients through their specific options. Waiting for “better” conditions is not a strategy. Strengthen your business to endure now, because those who do will be positioned to thrive when the cycle turns.

2. Your Database Is Still Your Business

Top agents build predictable success on a single foundation: their database. Keller urges every agent to start with one question. If all the leads in your pipeline were to convert, would you meet your income goal? If not, you don’t have a closing problem, you have a lead generation problem. Too often agents spend energy worrying about conversion tactics when the bigger gap is sheer volume. Block two to three hours every day for calls, notes, or personal outreach. Build and maintain a database that continues to grow even in lean times. Keller reminds us that the most successful businesses are still getting the majority of their volume from past clients and referrals. Don’t let those relationships waste away.

3. Define What You Know and What You Don’t

Fear is the force that keeps many agents from doing what they already know they need to do. Fear of rejection, fear of making a mistake, fear of looking unprepared. Keller frames professionalism as the ability to acknowledge what you know, admit what you don’t, and tell the truth about both. This mindset frees you from perfectionism and builds trust with clients. You don’t need to have every answer at hand. You need to bring integrity, resourcefulness, and the willingness to find solutions. Every conversation you have strengthens your confidence and softens fear’s grip.

4. Use AI Thoughtfully

Keller personally uses AI every day, but he’s clear about its limits. He likens it to a well-organized library. You can quickly find specific facts or summaries, but if you want true depth or mastery of a subject, you still need to study the full material. This is an important mindset for agents experimenting with AI. Use it to research market trends, draft communications, or organize information faster. But don’t confuse efficiency with expertise. Clients trust you not only for what you know but for the judgment and perspective you’ve earned through experience. AI can help, but it can’t replace that.

This Week’s Challenge

Set aside 30 minutes this week to examine your lead generation and database. How many viable leads do you have right now? How many more do you need to meet your goals? Identify one improvement you can make — whether it’s adding more daily contact time, reengaging your past clients, or starting a geographic farm — and commit to it. Track your progress over the next 30 days.

REAL ESTATE NEWS

Condos Take the Hardest Hit

Redfin reports that the condo market is showing the sharpest price declines of any housing segment. Rising costs and tighter lending rules have slowed buyers and sent more sellers into the market, driving prices down to levels not seen in over a decade.
Read the full report

Buyers Push Out to Exurbs

Americans are leaving city centers for exurbs — those small towns on the edges of metro areas — in search of more affordable homes and a small-town lifestyle. Buyers are willing to trade longer commutes for better deals.
Read more at The Week | More at Multifamily Dive

What’s happening with exurbs and condos in your market?

AI PRODUCTIVITY

Tell-Tale Signs Someone is Using AI to Write

I’ve trained my newsletter writer AI, a custom ChatGPT, over and over again. Yet every time I use it, I still have to correct it for sounding too much like AI.

Marketers, real estate agents, and many other professionals are increasingly using AI for their content, social media posts, newsletters, and blogs. Automating posts and letting AI write all of it is the beautiful promise of this technology, saving us hours every week. It’s tempting to leave it all in AI’s capable hands. But unless we want to flood the world with nonsense for the sake of posting, human oversight is still necessary.

Here are my 7 tell-tale signs someone is using AI to write:

1. “Quiet” or “quietly”
   AI loves to slip these words into sentences to make them sound profound. However, real people rarely describe things in this way, and now it has become a cliché.

2. “Shift”
   AI tends to overuse “shift” because it sounds insightful, but often nothing is actually shifting at all.

   Sample: “There’s been a quiet shift in how clients approach open houses.”

3. “Truth is…”
   This phrase is supposed to feel candid, but it usually just feels canned. Sample: “The truth is, most agents aren’t using AI to its full potential.”

4. “Here’s the truth…”
   Even clunkier than “truth is,” and more dramatic than the moment deserves. Sample: “Here’s the truth: the market won’t wait for you to adapt.”

5. Rhetorical comparisons (“It’s not this, it’s that…”)
   AI often tries to sound clever by contrasting two ideas in a predictable formula. These drive me crazy! Sample: “It’s not about selling homes, it’s about building trust.”

6. Dashes everywhere
   AI relies on long em dashes — constantly — because it thinks it sounds conversational. In reality, it is just a tell-tale sign someone is using AI.

7. “Noise”
   This word appears repeatedly in AI-generated copy. The market noise. The social media noise. Cutting through the noise. You get the idea. I’ve stopped using it entirely, except when referring to actual noise from a tool, such as a drill.
   

Remember:

If you are training your Custom GPTs for writing, no prompt or technique provides total elimination of these tell-tale signs, but layering explicit guidelines, prompt refinement, and strong editing can drastically reduce AI “tells”.

The more detailed and specific the style instructions, the more distinct (and less generic/AI-sounding) your output will become.

Human review is crucial, as current models will revert to defaults without strict controls or ongoing correction.